How Crypto Helped a 23-Year-Old Aussie Climb the Property Ladder

A 2021 survey conducted by international cryptocurrency exchange Kraken found that 40 percent of Australian millennials preferred investing in digital assets over real estate.

Now a 23-year-old university graduate from Brisbane, Queensland has brought both elements together by using cryptocurrency to break into the city’s soaring property market.

Loi Nguyen first started investing in crypto in 2017 during his second year of an economics degree. After graduating from high school he had worked full-time as a bank teller for a gap year on a miserly salary of just A$28,000. But the best economic lesson he learned in that time came from observing his customers in the bank.

“I saw people being diligent with their savings and also saw people being very reckless,” Nguyen said. “You had people consistently putting savings away every week and others putting stuff on the stock market.”

Starts With ‘a Couple of Hundred Bucks’ Worth’ of Crypto

Nguyen augmented his own meagre savings by investing in stocks and cryptocurrencies, buying “a couple of hundred bucks’ worth” of bitcoin and ethereum in 2017. When the crypto market crashed a year later, he thought he’d done his money.

Crypto came back into my life when I learned about inflation at uni, and how bitcoin could be disinflationary. I was earning less than half a per cent on my savings account at the bank and wanted to protect my purchasing power … I knew I had to be smart, otherwise I would never break into the property market.

Loi Nguyen, economics graduate and new homeowner

When Covid-19 hit in 2020, crypto started to pick up again as panic hit more traditional markets. Nguyen spent an estimated A$18,000 over the ensuing months until he owned an entire bitcoin, then continued to invest in BTC and ETH.

Before purchasing his one-bedroom inner-city apartment this year for A$430,000, Nguyen cashed out A$43,000 in cryptocurrency, less than half his overall portfolio, for the deposit on a home loan.

I’ve always wanted to own my own property and to be able live in it. Cryptocurrency allowed me to do that earlier.

Loi Nguyen, economics graduate and new homeowner

Crypto Millennials Aim to Retire at 50

According to a survey conducted by Pearler last May, a “significant number” of Australian millennials intend to retire at the age of 50 using their investments in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and cryptocurrencies. Nguyen is one such millennial who seems well on the way.